144, I Love Thee
by LittleRuu
Summary: One of the countless reasons that he loves about her: Her height. IchiRuki. One-shot collections based on their height differences.
1. Because She Needs a Hand

**A/N: Phew. It's been a while! Brief explanation of WHY in my profile. Go check if you wanted to.**

**Actually I was inspired by the overused of the infamous word, 'midget' in IchiRuki fandom! ****Anyway, this MAY become a one-shots collection that based on Rukia's height. We'll see. :D**

**...**

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><p><strong>144, I Love Thee.<strong>

**.ichi.**

_~Because she needs a hand._

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><p>...<p>

After about half an hour of searching for a very excited raven haired girl who tended to be missing every time they went to shop for groceries, he finally let out a sigh of relief when he saw a familiar 4 feet and 8 inches figure standing in front of a shelf full of boxes. There she was, with a face full of concentration and determination, trying so hard to reach for a spaghetti box on the top shelf. He watched as she stood on tiptoe with tiny little fingers strained in the air. The corner of his lips curved upwards at the view.

This was why she was never meant to be alone. This was why he should always be there by her side. She might deny it, she might refuse it, but she needed a hand. A hand for her to hold whenever she was in need. A hand for her to reach things that she couldn't reach. Things that she never imagine that she could reach...

And he could give her that hand.

He shook his head and started to walk down the food aisle towards her. He stopped right behind the girl and took the spaghetti box for her with ease. She turned around and opened her mouth to thank the kind helper, but seeing a familiar orange haired guy with an amused look on his face just pissed her off. So she left him with a pained shin and continued her grocery hunting.

...

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading and please review if you have time. :)<strong>


	2. The Train Hug

**It had been more than a year since I last posted a new story. So here you go, the second installment of this series. There will be more to come. So please read, review, fav and follow if you like the story! Thank you! :D**

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><p><strong>144, I Love Thee<strong>

**.ni.**

_~ I could feel her breaths... So close to my heart~_

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><p>One of the reason why Ichigo rarely went out on weekends was the fact that he hates being like sardines. Who on their right mind enjoyed being too close with different type of strangers in a train anyway? However, since Rukia really wanted to watch a new movie at the cinema, Ichigo didn't really have a choice but to offer her his company. After all, there was no way he could say no when Rukia bribed him with her delicious spaghetti last night.<p>

Isshin dramatically asked Yuzu to help his third daughter to get ready for her first date ever. With sparkling eyes, Yuzu started to dress up her Rukia-nee eagerly. The petite shinigami, being excited like always, ignored the fact that Isshin declared that this was a date, much to Ichigo's dismay.

Now here he was, in a very crowded train, watching the elders, young children, lovey dovey couple, innocent looking kids and some blatantly perverted teenagers.

Tired of observing other people , Ichigo finally focused on the raven haired girl in front of him. She was wearing a white dress with some big orange flowers on it. Her stubborn bang was tucked behind her ears and a heart-shaped hair accessory was clipped on the side to make the bang stayed that way. Ichigo always thought that Rukia didn't need any make up since her face is flawless, but a thin touch up did make her face glowed.

Since it was such a rare occasion to see her dressed up like this, he must admit that he admired the view. The only problem was, those perverted eyes in this train admired it too. Rukia, who seemed to be oblivious of her surrounding, continued to toy around with her new iPod. Unconsciously, she scratched her exposed milky shoulders ever so slowly, leaving a red mark on her porcelain skin. Ichigo swore he could hear those high testosterone men nearby took a deep, sharp breath.

Instinctively, he pulled her towards him as more passengers entered the train. He wrapped her shoulder with one arm as he brought her smaller form closer to his body. Some people might say she was too short, but who cares when her petite statue fitted perfectly under his arm. Ichigo could even smell the soft, sweet strawberry scented shampoo evaporating from her raven tresses. The scent was not too strong, it was relaxing. As her head rested on his chest, he could feel her warm breath close to where his heart was located.

He was glad that she didn't say anything about their close proximity as she just stared at their joined shoes tips quietly, probably listening to some weird rabbit's theme song on her iPod.

He then looked up towards those perverted man and shot them with his best death glare that gave shivers to those who received it.

Yes.

It was a type of glare with a murderous intent, that you only saw when someone was marking his territory, saying that something or in this case – someone, was his.

But no.

Ichigo believed that he was not being possessive.

He was just being protective.

.

.

.

Rukia kept her head down low and listened closely to Ichigo's rapid heart beating. Her iPod had died since she forgot to charge it last night. She didn't really know why, but she couldn't control the smile from forming on her face as she stared at their joined shoes.

.

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_~TBC (Maybe. XD)_

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><p><strong>Thanks to<strong> _falconrukichi, jac, ichrukiftw, Lunacat13, bianca luna, curio cherry, Random fan_, **and** _cruorem_** who reviewed the first part of this collection. 9 reviews per chapter is a lot to people who suck at writing like me. I REALLY appreciate them. So please review if you guys had time. Even if you just says 'aww', that surely means a lot you know cuz aww = cute. And I love cute things. XD**


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